This Monday should have seen a hurry, as during each office, a hundred faithful of the Orthodox community of Paris.
But they no longer have a church, devastated less than 24 hours earlier by flames which only the solid wooden structure and the zinc roof of this unusual little church, nestled in a hidden garden in the 15th arrondissement, resisted. .
Also intact, its two azure blue bulbs whose brilliance contrasts with the spectacle of desolation of the place.
Wearing thick rubber gloves, Father Renaud and a few volunteers step over the charred rubble of the church with a thousand precautions.
Since the evening before, after the extinction of the fire by the Paris firefighters, then the readings of the central laboratory of the judicial police, they have been trying to extract from the magma the dozens of works, ancient icons and religious paintings, gnawed and black with tallow.
The fire quickly spread through the wooden building.
Stored in the property's 17th century house, where a few families from the community live, they are gradually amassing into a sad museum from which it will no doubt be necessary to separate.
"I think that 90% of the works are lost," says Father Renaud sadly, scanning the room filled with icons and religious objects, the latter more resistant than the wood of religious images.
Probably accidental fire
A small glimmer of hope in this devastation.
"We found three things incredibly intact, including the icon of the "Angel with the Golden Censer" of Saint Mary of Paris
(Mother Marie Skobtsova)
, the Epitaphios, the liturgical veil which symbolizes the shroud of Christ , and our antimension,” smiles the priest as he strokes the embroidered piece of cloth, an essential part of the Orthodox altar.
"Around these rooms, everything is destroyed or badly damaged, it's quite extraordinary", murmurs Father Renaud, who still cannot explain what could have happened, what spark caused this devastation facilitated by the profusion of wood, from the framework to the ornaments.
Saint-Séraphin-de-Sarov Orthodox Church (15th century), this Monday.
In the devastated interior of the small Russian church, more than a hundred ancient icons and painted works were destroyed.
If the precise origin of the fire is not yet determined, it seems “most likely accidental, he confides.
Firefighters and police favor this track.
The church was closed after the morning service, no candles were lit, it was only to reopen for the 6:00 p.m. service… At 4:15 p.m., everything was burning.
It could be electricity”.
He himself did not really think of a malicious act, an inevitable suspicion in the current context of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and a climate of hostility which has seen an increase in acts of vandalism against buildings Russians.
Russia, of which Saint-Séraphin-de-Sarov is a small serene enclave in the heart of the capital.
Serene but Russian-speaking.
“We have never had any particular threat, we are not in this state of mind”, excludes the religious.
“We have to find another place for the celebrations”
In the aftermath of the disaster, the community of Saint-Séraphin-de-Sarov must "start to clean up all this", foresees Father Renaud, but also prepare the future of worship, including Orthodox Easter, celebrated next weekend.
“We will rebuild, but we have to find another place for the celebrations.
Several Orthodox churches offer to welcome us, but our community is large, they are often small churches…”.
The two azure blue bulbs of the Orthodox church have remained intact and, from the outside, contrast with the blackness of the facades and the interior of what remains of the building.
For the works, the town hall of the 15th century has on Monday lent a room where to store them, the time to assess the damage.
"We have an art restorer in the community, who will embark on this work", explains the religious.
It will be long and costly, a call for donations has already been launched, like the one which, three years ago, raised the 800,000 euros for repairs and upgrading and renovation. interior of the main building, as well as the roof of the church.
To donate: Helloasso.com/associations/association-cultuelle-orthodoxe-saint-seraphin-de/formulaires/2/widget et Seraphin.typepad.fr/